Forgiveness
by Writer207
Summary: "If you see him in the street, walking by her side, talking by her side, have pity." In which Skylar and Oliver learn to live with the unimaginable. (one-shot)


**Forgiveness**

 **Song suggestion: It's Quiet Uptown - Hamilton**

* * *

Oliver woke up when the phone rang. He rubbed in his eyes and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. He was laying on the couch in the living room. On the small table next to it stood his mug, half-filled with coffee. His watch told him it was five o'clock in the evening.

Oliver frowned. He was certain he'd been standing in the kitchen just one minute ago. The coffee had become cold and when Oliver had last checked, it was only half past five. He did not remember taking his coffee to the living room and deciding go take a nap on the couch.

Then, he noticed the small piece of paper lying next to the mug on the table. There was only one word written: ' _sorry'_. Oliver sighed when he realized what had just happened. He shook his head. _Jason…_ That kid would never learn. Even after sixteen years, he still used his powers for personal gain. In his case, so he could go out to fight crime, like his parents.

The phone rang again. Oliver stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen, where he'd left it. He looked at the screen. Jason was calling. Oliver didn't hesitate and picked up the phone.

"Jason, you should really stop inducing sleep. We know when you can or can't fight a villain. Please tell me you're not at the bridge."

"Oliver, it's me." As soon as he heard that voice, his eyes widened.

"Kaz?" he asked, confused, "What are you doing with my son's phone?" This didn't feel good. Kaz would never take Jason's phone, unless something happened.

"I'm at the bridge," he said. Oliver's heart skipped a beat.

"But the Wolfman…" Oliver began, but he couldn't finish his sentence. Suddenly, he became afraid. Before Jason induced sleep and snuck out of the house, Oliver heard reports of the Wolfman terrorizing people near the Ben Franklin bridge. Jason wanted to fight him, but Oliver wouldn't allow him and prepared to go there alone. Jason apparently had other plans.

"He ran away when I arrived. I couldn't go after him because…" Kaz took a deep breath at the other side of the line and his voice started to tremble. "I'm so sorry, Oliver, but I was too late." Oliver didn't know how to react. He froze on the spot and the temperature in the house dropped. He only responded when he realized Kaz was still on the phone, waiting for a response.

"I'll be right there," he said and then hung up the phone. He put it in his pocket and started to move. Without doing anything else he'd wanted to do today, he walked in the direction of the front door. He grabbed a coat, put it on and walked outside, closing the door. He walked two blocks before he stopped in a sheltered spot. He looked around and when he was certain nobody was watching, he took off in the sky. There was no time to change into his superhero costume. He wasn't fast, and his son needed him.

After a five-minute flight, Oliver finally arrived at the bridge. He descended to the ground and landed in a nearby alley. He hoped nobody had seen him land, but those worries disappeared as soon as he started walking in the direction of the bridge, going faster with every next step. When he turned around the corner, he stopped walking for a split-second. The crowd standing between him and his son wasn't a good sign. The more people watched, the worse the situation was. With much difficulty, he made his way through the crowd, pushing whenever necessary. Around him, people felt like a source of cold air had walked past them. In a way, it had. Oliver was so worried he couldn't control the temperature around him, making it cold. He stopped feeling it a long time ago, but these people hadn't. When he had finally reached the other side, he stopped and watched.

The crossroads at the North Christopher Columbus Boulevard and Race Street had been closed off for the public, with police tape marking the area where they were forbidden to go. There were two or three cars still standing in that area, destroyed or reduced to debris. One lamp post didn't make it either. In the crowd, there were several cameramen and news reporters doing their job, while the people around them waved in the camera. Before Oliver could see his son, he saw Firefly. Unlike Oliver, Kaz had come in costume. He had to – he didn't want the Wolfman (or any other villain) to know who he was.

Kaz then noticed Oliver in the crowd. Only when Kaz had walked closer, Oliver realized he'd been signaling Kaz by spreading the cold. It made finding him easier. The people around him, as well as one reporter, started to ask questions, but he ignored them for now and looked at Oliver.

"You're the father, right?" he asked him, rather formal. Oliver nodded. For their own protection, when one was in costume they pretended not to know one another. The reporter next to him started to ask him questions, but Oliver didn't say anything because he didn't have the answer. Firefly helped Oliver to get out of the crowd and escorted him into the perimeter.

"As soon as I got here, the Wolfman bit him and ran away," Kaz explained when they were far enough away from the crowd, "He knew I'd stay to help Jason. When I wanted to pursue him, he was long gone." Oliver nodded, barely listening to his best friends words. Instead, he focused on the boy laying motionlessly on the sidewalk near the riverside and the woman who sat on her knees next to him, crying in her hands.

"Skylar," Oliver said, sounding indifferent. Kaz nodded.

"I had to call her first," he explained. "She's still his mother." _Adoptive mother_ , Oliver thought. Calderans weren't built to be pregnant like human women, so they had decided to adopt a child. Young Jason had just lost his parents in an accident and, as a child with powers, the super community had been given a chance of adopting him. And that's how Jason became the son of Oliver and Skylar at age four.

Kaz placed a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Good luck," he said and Oliver nodded at him. He had been meaning to add ' _you're gonna need it'_ , but they both knew that already. Her reaction to him would always be a surprise.

Oliver then moved closer to Jason and Skylar. Kaz stayed right where he was – he didn't want to go any closer. Oliver and Skylar needed their privacy. That, and he'd almost vomited when he first saw the sight of the boy he often incorrectly called his nephew. The Wolfman always left his victims in a pool of blood, and today was no exception. Blood had dripped out of his nose, his mouth, the cuts, scratches from the villain's claws and the severe bite wound in his upper leg. The boy could barely move without hurting himself and he had trouble breathing.

 _"Don't leave me! Please!" he begged him, desperately trying to grab Kaz's leg._

 _"Trust me, I'm not going anywhere." Kaz said, sitting on his knees and taking Jason's bloody hand._

 _"Thank you." It was not much more than a whisper between sobs._

 _"Hang on, I'll call an ambulance." Kaz had concluded Jason was too weak and moving him could make things worse._

 _"Will they be here on time?" he wondered._

 _"I don't know."_

While they waited, Jason had just enough time to realize he should've listened to his father. He realized his mother would kill him if he died on this spot. Not much after saying it out loud, he lost consciousness. One minute later, he had stopped breathing. And when Kaz stood up to go after the Wolfman, the villain had already left and had fled into the city.

Kaz watched how Oliver approached his family. When there were only a few more meters to walk, he too fell on his knees. He tried to crawl closer, but Skylar noticed him. She yelled at him, but Oliver never raised his voice to respond. She moved her hands and arms frantically, but Oliver didn't move an inch. She let all her emotions out at once, but Oliver stayed as calm as humanly possible in a situation like that. Eventually, Skylar stopped shouting and waving with her arms. Oliver crawled closer to Jason – Kaz assumed Skylar had given him permission to come closer. Oliver bowed over the head, stroking the boy's head and finally crying his heart out.

Kaz turned his back to the two. They needed the privacy, and could only imagine what it would be like to lose a child.

* * *

Five days after that unfortunate day, Oliver dared to go to Skylar. He figured that now would be a good time to talk, since she had had five days to process what happened. Skylar would hopefully be calm enough to talk and be reasonable. Oliver had been standing there, at her front door, for about ten minutes. To be honest, he was still kind of building up the courage he needed.

Eventually he couldn't wait any longer and rang the doorbell. He was lucky she was at home – he heard the noise coming from inside. And then, the door opened. She looked annoyed when she saw it was _him_.

"Oliver." That's a good sign – she hadn't decided not to say his name out loud. At least she indirectly showed Oliver she was willing to talk. Oliver nodded.

"Hi Skylar," he said.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't close the door right now." Oliver thought about all the possible things he could tell her – he had not anticipated that question. But his brain failed him, and he just sighed after a while.

"I just want to talk," he said. He slightly panicked when the door was already closing.

"Skylar, wait!" he said – the door stopped moving when it was half-closed. "I have to talk to someone and… No, Kaz is not enough this time. There's nobody else I can turn to. It's about our… just hear me out, okay? Let me talk and then you can kick me out if you want." For a while, the door didn't move and Skylar did not do anything. When Oliver was about to leave – _she made her choice, so I'd better go_ – the door swung open again. Skylar no longer was annoyed by Oliver's presence.

"Come in," she said. Oliver nodded again and walked into the house they once used to share. All the fond memories came back – oh, how happy they were together! Unfortunately, their happiness didn't last as long as he'd hoped. To this day, Oliver still didn't know why Skylar had asked for a divorce. "You know why," she had always said. That didn't mean Oliver knew what she meant. All he knew he did wrong was to allow Jason to do some things Skylar forbade him to do. He agreed to the divorce only because it would make her happy, and her happiness was more important than his. He still loved her, but had no idea whether she still had feelings for him.

Everything was just like it had been in the living room. The couch stood near the window and the door to the garden, and opposite of it stood a comfortable chair. There was a TV to the left, on top of a small closet. Next to the TV stood the pictures Oliver had taken of Jason and Skylar. Some were from when they were a family, and some were made when they already lived apart. Oliver sat down in the couch while Skylar preferred the chair. There was a short, uncomfortable silence before Skylar spoke.

"Go on," she said, "I'm listening." And for the first time in forever, she focused all her attention on the man she loved.

Oliver leaned forward. "Well, where do I start…" he trailed off, but soon began to speak. "People always said Jason had a lot of my qualities. They said they recognized a bit of me in him. You know, I never could agree with them. When I looked at Jason, I saw more of you." He looked directly at her. "He was brave and fierce and determined, like you. He never knew when to stand down. He never knew it wasn't okay to pick a fight with someone who was twice his size."

Oliver paused, and sighed. He now preferred to watch the floor between Skylar's feet. "He tricked me. I wanted to go after the Wolfman alone and told him to stay. He said he would. It was suspicious behavior, I know, but I thought he'd finally learned his lesson. I let my guard down. He snuck up on me and I woke up half an hour later. I know it isn't my fault, but that doesn't mean I don't feel like it is." He was starting to have trouble speaking. When he looked up at Skylar, she noticed there were some tears in his eyes. She wondered how he wasn't sobbing at this moment.

"Skylar, I swear, if I could trade his life for mine, he'd be standing here right now. You'd smile. I'd be gone, but you'd be happy. And that would be enough." He quickly looked away again, this time watching the floor between his own feet before looking at her again when he started talking again.

"I'm glad you let me in. These are hard times for both of us. I can't process this on my own. I know my sadness will consume me without others to help me. Just let me stay here by your side. That's all I'm asking." When there came no immediate answer, he looked away from her, to one of Jason's pictures. Still, he didn't start to cry, even when tears were rolling down his cheeks and falling onto the ground. He thought the silence meant that she was thinking about whether she should kick him out or not. He didn't know there never was a choice.

"Do you want something to drink?" He looked up at her and noticed she'd stood up. Oliver nodded, perplexed.

"A glass of water, please," he said. His voice trembled a bit. Skylar walked out of the living room, straight to the nearby kitchen. Oliver decided to look out of the window – it might take his mind off of his boy. Unfortunately, that didn't help. His eyes fell on the play equipment in the garden. It was a simple wooden construction with one slide and, at its right side, two swings. It was one of Jason's favorite places to be, often pretending to save the day from imaginary villains.

Oliver walked through the door and came closer to the construction. It was a bit cold, but he couldn't care less about that. He didn't come closer than three yards, though. When he closed his eyes, he could still imagine little Jason playing around here, hearing him shout his catchphrase and defeat made-up villains. He bowed his head and he finally let tears roll down his cheeks.

He didn't stop when the door opened. It had to be Skylar – there was nobody else around to come through that door. She walked closer to him, but Oliver only had eyes for the construction.

"Are you still going to sell it?"

"Yes," she responded, "Someone's going to pick it up within two weeks." She had come close enough to stand next to him. They didn't say a word, Oliver continued to cry and together they stared at the wooden construction where their kid had spent so much time.

Then, Skylar's hand took Oliver's. Caught by surprise, he first looked at the hand and then at Skylar. He saw she would soon start to cry again, too. In that momen, when their eyes met, they realized they were stupid to separate and knew that all they needed was each other. Without saying anything else, she threw her arms around his neck and grabbed each other in a tight hug. Skylar started to sob, her face buried in Oliver's shoulder. Oliver comforted her the best way he could, even if he still continued to cry himself.

After standing there for quite some time, she whispered three small words in his ears. _I forgive you._ Oliver couldn't believe his ears, but he was glad he lived to hear her say them. A smile appeared on his face. Maybe she forgave him because she thought it was time, or maybe she did because that's what Jason would've wanted. He couldn't care less at the moment. Skylar forgave him, and nothing could've been more important than that during that moment.

He pressed her closer to him, though not too hard as to hurt her. He would never hurt her again, by accident or on purpose.

* * *

Jason's funeral was held nine days after he had died. They didn't want to wait too long, but did everything they could to make it a good one. They kept in mind that Jason never wanted to be cremated, and always spoke about wanting to be buried.

Kaz arrived first. His family would arrive soon, too, but he had decided to go there flying while the others had to take the car. He didn't come in his superhero costume, since this service wasn't meant for just the super community. Jason had a lot of Normo friends, who would of course be attending. The other guests would come in their civilian clothes, too.

When Kaz walked into the building, he immediately searched for Oliver and Skylar. They were standing close to the entrance and when he saw them, he stopped. He blinked once, then rubbed his eyes and looked at them again. Were his eyes deceiving him? No, they were not. So he wasn't wrong. A miracle had indeed happened. After so long, Oliver and Skylar were holding hands again – and they smiled at each other! She had stopped doing that after the divorce. _Finally!_ he thought. After so long, they were back together. _Took 'em long enough._ Just a pity it had to happen right after Jason died.

He knew it meant Skylar forgave him for every little thing he'd done wrong in Skylar's eyes. Bad choices which hadn't been choices at all. Allow Jason to induce sleep in him so the boy could fight crime. And many more stood on that long list, which now had all been erased.

Kaz couldn't help but smile. _Good job, buddy,_ he thought _, she forgave you._

* * *

 **Happy Halloween! So, for this Halloween, I decided to do something atypical: write a sad story instead of your typical scary Halloween story. Either way, when I heard the song (see 'song suggestion' above) I just knew I had to do something with it. It's a very beautiful song, check it out if you can - it's on YouTube. Eventually, I ended up writing this story and decided to post it on Halloween because, why not? Anyway, I hoped you liked this piece of Skoliver. See you next time!**

 **-Writer207**


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